All-party meet for talks with J&K stakeholders

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The government on Wednesday ignored the hard-line elements within the BJP and the RSS, even as an all-party meet adopted a resolution to talk with all the stakeholders, including the separatists, in Jammu and Kashmir.

The various political parties agreed that sovereignty of India was non-negotiable. The parties' members discussed options such as resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue and confidence-building measures like withdrawing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from civilian areas.

"The members of the delegation are of the opinion that there is no place for violence in a civilised society. There can be no compromise on issue of national sovereignty," Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury suggested a "dual track" policy to push peace in the Kashmir Valley. "We have suggested that the government should start a dual-track approach. There should be confidence building measures (CBMs) like withdrawal of pellet guns and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from civilian areas, judicial investigation on missing persons, treatment to injured and employment opportunities," he said.

The meet chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh came after an all-party delegation toured the border state on September 4 and 5 to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The meet finalised an action plan to deal with the social unrest that has paralysed the Valley over the past two months. The members appealed to the people of the state to give up violence, while stating that it was the responsibility of both the Centre and the state government to hold dialogues with the dissenting population.

Sending an all-party delegation to the state marked a reconciliatory tone in the approach of the Centre, which had been talking tough in dealing with those behind the violence in the Valley.

Responding to the widespread criticism over the use of pellet guns on stone-pelting youngsters, the home ministry had decided to replace these with non-lethal chilli-based shells. Sources said segments within the government have been mulling reviewing security cover and financial resources of the separatists, alleging they were pandering to Pakistan's machinations.

"These tactics are aimed at fooling and misleading the people of India and creating hysteria so that the attention of the people of India is diverted from the actual issue on ground and they are kept ignorant about it," a spokesman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said in a statement.

National Conference leader and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah termed the all-party delegation as a wasted effort. "I'm struggling to find a single achievement that the all-party delegation can lay claim to after visiting J&K.

Nothing comes to mind as yet!" Omar tweeted. "75 people have died, 1000s of civilians & security personnel have been injured and there is no sense of urgency in getting a grip on things!"

On Wednesday, at least four persons were injured in fresh clashes between protestors and security forces in south Kashmir's Anantnag district as restrictions on the assembly of people continued.